Primespan Stats
A good VO2max is one above the median for people of the same age and sex, and a value in the top 20 percent counts as high. In 16,278 measured treadmill tests, the median falls from 46.5 ml/kg/min at ages 20 to 29 to 20.6 at 70 to 79 for men, and from 36.6 to 17.2 for women.
Updated October 2026 · Data: FRIEND registry 2022 (Kaminsky et al., Mayo Clinic Proceedings)
| Age | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| 20-29 | 46.5 | 36.6 |
| 30-39 | 39.7 | 28.3 |
| 40-49 | 35.3 | 25.7 |
| 50-59 | 29.2 | 22.9 |
| 60-69 | 24.6 | 19.6 |
| 70-79 | 20.6 | 17.2 |
| 80-89* | 17.6 | 15.4 |
Median in ml/kg/min: half of the tested people in each group scored lower, half higher. Directly measured in apparently healthy adults at 34 US labs, tests from 1968 to 2021. *80 to 89: only 173 men and 106 women, so read this row as a rough guide.
| Age | P10 | P20 | Median | P80 | P90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20-29 | 28.6 | 35.2 | 46.5 | 54.5 | 58.6 |
| 30-39 | 24.9 | 29.8 | 39.7 | 50.0 | 55.5 |
| 40-49 | 22.1 | 26.7 | 35.3 | 45.2 | 50.8 |
| 50-59 | 18.6 | 22.2 | 29.2 | 38.3 | 43.4 |
| 60-69 | 15.8 | 18.5 | 24.6 | 32.0 | 37.1 |
| 70-79 | 13.6 | 15.9 | 20.6 | 25.9 | 29.4 |
| 80-89* | 12.9 | 14.8 | 17.6 | 21.4 | 22.8 |
ml/kg/min, from 9,564 treadmill tests in men. P20 means that 20 percent of tested men in that age group scored lower. *80 to 89: 173 men.
| Age | P10 | P20 | Median | P80 | P90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20-29 | 22.5 | 27.2 | 36.6 | 44.8 | 49.0 |
| 30-39 | 18.6 | 21.9 | 28.3 | 37.0 | 42.1 |
| 40-49 | 17.2 | 19.7 | 25.7 | 33.0 | 37.8 |
| 50-59 | 16.5 | 18.5 | 22.9 | 28.4 | 32.4 |
| 60-69 | 13.4 | 15.4 | 19.6 | 24.3 | 27.3 |
| 70-79 | 12.3 | 14.0 | 17.2 | 20.8 | 22.8 |
| 80-89* | 11.4 | 12.6 | 15.4 | 18.4 | 20.8 |
ml/kg/min, from 6,714 treadmill tests in women. *80 to 89: 106 women.
Bands used on this page, our grouping of the published FRIEND percentiles:
Find your age group in the table for your sex and see which two columns your measured value falls between. Example: a 45-year-old man with a VO2max of 47 sits between P80 (45.2) and P90 (50.8) for men aged 40 to 49, so his value is high. At 25, the same value would be just above the median of 46.5: above average. A 55-year-old woman with 25 is above the median of 22.9 for women aged 50 to 59, which is also above average.
The bands are our way of reading the published percentiles, not a medical classification. Below P10 means that 9 in 10 people of the same age and sex scored higher; a value at P90 or above is higher than 9 in 10 of them.
Garmin's rating table comes from the Cooper Institute. Cooper reference values were predicted from treadmill time or workload rather than measured from breathing gas, and such equations overestimate oxygen uptake at high effort (FRIEND 2015). In that comparison, the measured FRIEND percentiles were lower than Cooper's in every age group from 40 on. On Garmin's table a woman of 50 to 59 needs 33.0 to rate "good"; in FRIEND 2022, that value is above the 90th percentile. Apple Watch also estimates VO2max rather than measuring it, from heart rate and motion during outdoor walks, runs and hikes (Apple).
In a US cohort of 122,007 adults referred for a treadmill test and followed for a median of 8.4 years, higher fitness went with lower mortality from any cause, with no upper limit of benefit observed. People between the 25th and 49th percentile for their age and sex had a 41 percent higher adjusted risk of death than those between the 50th and 74th percentile (Mandsager et al., 2018). This is an association from an observational study, not proof that fitness alone caused the difference.
What is a good VO2max for a woman?
A value above the median of women the same age: 36.6 ml/kg/min at 20 to 29, 28.3 at 30 to 39, 25.7 at 40 to 49, 22.9 at 50 to 59, 19.6 at 60 to 69 and 17.2 at 70 to 79. The top 20 percent, counted here as high, start at 44.8, 37.0, 33.0, 28.4, 24.3 and 20.8.
What is a good VO2max at 50 or 60?
At 50 to 59 the median is 29.2 ml/kg/min for men and 22.9 for women, and the top 20 percent start at 38.3 and 28.4. At 60 to 69 the median is 24.6 for men and 19.6 for women, with the top 20 percent from 32.0 and 24.3. So a 52-year-old man with 35 is above average, and a 63-year-old woman with 25 is high.
Is a VO2max of 50 good?
Yes, at every age. For women, 50 is above the 90th percentile in every age group. For men, 50 is above the median at 20 to 29 (46.5), exactly at P80 at 30 to 39 and above P90 from 50 on. A VO2max of 60 is above the 90th percentile for men and women in every age group of the registry.
How fast can VO2max improve?
Within weeks. In a trial with 40 moderately trained men, three interval sessions a week (4×4 minutes at 90 to 95 percent of maximum heart rate) raised VO2max by 7.2 percent in 8 weeks. Across 28 controlled trials in healthy adults aged 18 to 45, endurance training added 4.9 and interval training 5.5 ml/kg/min compared with no training.
How accurate is the VO2max on Apple Watch or Garmin?
Close on average, rough for one person. A meta-analysis of 14 validation studies found that wearables estimating VO2max from exercise data were off by only 0.09 ml/kg/min on average, yet a single reading could miss the lab value by about 10 ml/kg/min either way. Use one device consistently and follow the trend over months.
This reference chart is for educational purposes and is not a medical device or medical advice. Values describe population percentiles, not individual health targets.
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